Inside a dim room in the depths of the capital, two figures sat facing each other in a silent staring contest.
One of them was Elise, the second strongest mage among the five great mages. The other was Vespera Nocturne, the sin of lust and the strongest among the seven deadly sins.
If these two powerful individuals ever fought a serious battle, it would leave the kingdom in ruins. And that is why no one would ever let such a battle occur.
Elise was infuriated at how the lust demon took advantage of her power to take the privilege of punishing the earth mage. She did not like that one bit.
Vespera met her glare and decided to talk, saying,
"I will not kill him, you know. He still has value to the kingdom... blah blah blah. But he does deserve this punishment."
Elise continued to glare intensely. If the glare could kill, the lust demon would have died a thousand times by now. When Elise finally talked, her voice had an icy tone to it.
"It would have been better if he died. He had failed his mission and they no longer needs him. Do not forget... he is the weakest among us."
Vespera smirked, her expression becoming dark.
"Us? There is no us. Humans cannot stand with higher beings. Well unless you are some special case like Aiko or John Grave. Then maybe I will have to acknowledge your existence."
Elise’s voice became even colder.
"What makes you demons so arrogant that you look down on humans... and yet you still kneel before the king? Why is that?"
The temperature of the room dropped significantly as Elise exuded her aura, but Vespera did not seem fazed in the slightest. To demons, humans were beneath them. It was a fact.
They were merely stepping stones on the path to greater power. They happened to be strong enough to achieve said power, which is why they looked down on humans.
"Elise," Vespera hissed, "remove your aura or I will kill you where you stand."
The ice mage did not take her aura down, much to the disgust of the lust demon. Vespera’s face twisted in anger as she stood up to her feet. Elise followed suit.
The tension between the two was becoming unbearable-
-until a knock sounded on the wooden door.
A man entered the room, wearing neatly arranged glasses along with a well tailored butler’s suit. In his hands he had a deck of tarot cards. He had a calm and polite demeanor, and showed no fear of the two powerful women before him.
His name was Sebastian Holmes, also known as The Dealer. The cards in his hand held great power, as long as he drew a good card.
Without addressing the two women, Sebastian began to shuffle the deck. He took about a minute to do so, his fingers dancing elegantly across the cards. When he was done, he drew out the bottom card and smirked slightly.
"King of Wands it seems. Looks like it’s my lucky day."
He played the card and a wave of intense heat blasted from it, overpowering the ice aura around Elise.
The Dealer could only use one tarot card per day. Once he played it, he had to wait until the next day to use it again.
He spoke with a calm and polite voice, as if he was a butler delivering tea to his master.
"The King has summoned all of us to his presence. That includes you Hiden as well."
With that he spun around like a proper gentleman, exiting the room with a smooth walk. He shut the door behind him as if he had simply delivered some tea.
Elise clicked her tongue in annoyance.
"Ahhhhh... this is so annoying."
She stood up from her seat and gave one last glare towards Vespera before leaving the room, not bothering to close the door.
Vespera released a breath she did not realize she was holding. She had actually been a little frightened of the human’s aura. Not that she would admit it.
"These humans are such a pain everyday. Maybe I should start a rebellion and take my soldiers to enact an all-out massacre of mankind."
She shook her head.
"No, they might be weak individually, but together they can be a nuisance."
Vespera sat in thought, considering what to do with Elise. After a while, a sinister grin made its way to her face.
"That could work."
What Vespara was planning for Elise seems like it would cause great pain.
Vespera laughs and opens the door to the underground prison where she walks through the halls passing the cells. A seductive smile on her face as she passed her collection of prisoners whom she had been irritated by so she made them her piece of art.
Women and men filling the cells with blood and organs smeared all over the walls. This was her happy place and she loved it.
Her happy place where she can lose herself in her fantasies and escape reality.
Meanwhile in the depths of the goblin lair, John Graves sat alone on the edge of a bed. The others had gone towards the front, leaving him to be alone for a while. He looked at the stone floor as he pondered in thought.
"We should find a new cave soon. Higher level, more skills, more stats. We need to get stronger. Much stronger... Strong enough to end this war by killing all our enemies with cold blooded precision."
Outside the tunnels, Lyra stood with a wide impish grin.
Aiko and Airi had been chatting about John.They had made a terrible mistake by doing that.
It was Airi who bowed her head with an apology first.
"I am sorry my lady Lyra for being so impulsive. Please forgive me."
Aiko spoke more carefully.
"Lyra... I know that you and John are together. Nothing will change that, but what would it take to become his lover also?"
Lyra’s eyes narrowed.
"Tch. My master is mine. No one else’s. If he wants a harem, I will accept it in the future.
Aiko sighed to herself.
’I thought Yanderes only exist in novels huh? Guess I’m wrong.’
Someone approached from the tunnels. It was John, who walked out with a look of amusement on his face. He looked towards the three women standing before him.
"We’re going cave hunting. Get ready ladies."